Michael Slane of Tolland has been selected by the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association (CFDA) to receive 2017 college scholarship funds. Slane, a new graduate of Tolland High School, will pursue a career in Social Work at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. in the Fall. CFDA presented $500 to each of eight Connecticut student honorees at a ceremony near its offices in Wethersfield, Conn.

This is the seventeenth consecutive year that the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association has awarded college scholarship funds to help young people pursue careers in the "helping" professions. This includes the fields of caregiving, counseling, social services, psychology, psychiatry, nursing, medicine, social work, gerontology, or funeral service. One student in each of Connecticut's eight counties was selected to receive $500 in funds for college.

"The Connecticut Funeral Directors Association created this grant program to encourage students to follow their dreams and enter professions that provide emotional or physical support to families," explains Robert L. Muccino Jr. of Waterbury, a licensed funeral director and the President of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. "As funeral directors, we help families every day during what can be very difficult times, so we understand how important these jobs are to support people in need."

To be eligible for CFDA's Scholarships program, candidates must: be a high school senior and Connecticut resident who is pursuing a career in a "helping" professions that provides emotional, medical or physical support for families.; and must maintain at least a B grade point average in all 10th, 11th and 12th grades. All candidates provide a written response to the question: Why did you decide to pursue a profession that supports families?

For information about the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association and their scholarship program, call 860-721-0234 or 800-919-2332, or visit www.ctfda.org.

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